Study: Are Pastured-Raised Eggs More Nutritious?

science
food

#1

This is old news but just stumbled upon it and found it interesting.

Intuitively, I have known eggs from pastured-raised chickens are better. They look and taste better. Easier to peel, too. In 2009, Mother Earth News conducted a study comparing the nutritional value from pastured-raised to commercial-produced eggs.

To see the results, you can download the file at the end of the article or download it here:

Eggs chart pdf.pdf (793.7 KB)

The results show that pastured-raised eggs are more nutritious than commercially-raised eggs! The author hypes the fat that they have less cholesterol and saturated fat, which is not why they are more nutritious. (When are we going to get over the meme that colesterol and saturated fat is bad for you?) There is, of course, a trade-off in cost between the two types of eggs.

Be aware, eggs labeled “Cage-free” or “Range-free” are not the same as “Pasture-raised”. It just means they are not in cages but are allowed to roam around, usually in large warehouses but are fed the same crappy food as caged birds. Its is better for the birds, but the eggs are no better nutritionally than caged birds.

I am envious of those of you who have the means to raise your own pasture chickens.


(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #2

I get pastured eggs at the grocery. They run <$.50 a egg. Sure, that’s a huge bump over the $.30 for caged chicken eggs.

If anyone is wondering, the values on the charges for 100g of egg, which works to about 2 “large” eggs.

The tracking of beta carotene with vitamin content just lets you know the more orange the yolk, the better the quality of the egg.

Apparently Red Sex-Links is a breed of chicken… http://media.tractorsupply.com/is/image/TractorSupplyCompany/2017-tsc-spotlight-breed-red-sex-link?$650$


(Bob M) #3

I wish they would have also looked at PUFAs, O6. They looked at O3. This was small, by the way, even the best is not even 1 gram of O3. But I’d rather see O6 measured.

We’ve looked into raising chickens, but they’d be dead within a week. We have bobcats, hawks, coyotes, owls, raccoons, foxes, etc., which come through our property all the time. If we built a fortress, the chickens might last, but then they wouldn’t be free range.


(Ben ) #4

I just buy the 88 cent a dozen and eat a lot of them. Burp.:chicken:


(Chris) #5

Lmao, I’d have to keep the stupid chickens in my house. We have all that plus bears, wolves and mountain lions. Plus some territorial wild turkeys that roam through daily.


(Brian) #6

It is a challenge. We live in an area where lots of predators would be wanting a chicken dinner, too. I’ve considered building a fortress for them to live in at night and when they’re not let out, and planning an area where they can get out for at least part of the day and free range on pasture, mostly supervised. I’m not sure how that would all work out. I do know that most of the predators would be out at night.

I’m fortunate in that Amish neighbors / friends have pasture raised chickens that sell us eggs for $2.50/dozen. And the quality is top shelf, seriously, and I have a pretty good idea of quality because I did raise my own laying hens in the past. It would be hard to produce that quality of eggs for that price on my own. But since they already have the fencing in place for other animals and they tend to let their chickens run in the same large pastures, they definitely have an advantage there.

That said, chickens are just my speed. They’re mostly very easy to take care of and don’t require milking twice a day or constant attention except when they’re like a few days old and so delicate. I kinda enjoy them… probably make the into pets way more than I should… take them treats from leftovers… stuff like that. Anyway, we’ll see what this year brings. :slight_smile:


(Bob M) #7

If you do get some chickens, you might consider a trail camera. I have an infrared version so it doesn’t ostensibly turn on at night. I’ve seen all kinds of stuff, though no mountain lion or cougar. Other that, pretty much everything else. Forgot about the turkeys, skunks, and this guy (though its common name is Fisher Cat):

They say they’re unlikely to kill chickens, though.

Everyone we know who had chickens…HAD them. We have some locals who raise chickens, and the eggs are about $5/dozen. I don’t know how they keep them, though.


(Chris) #8

Yeah the fisher. I forgot about those nasties.

Great article OP, thanks for sharing.


(Carl Keller) #9

I don’t doubt that pasture raised chickens are much better for us than commercial chickens, but I wonder about the motivation for Mother Earth to conduct a study on this subject. It seems to me that this is catered to people with the common belief that cholesterol (in general) and saturated fat are bad for us:

• 1/3 less cholesterol
• 1/4 less saturated fat
• 2/3 more vitamin A
• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
• 3 times more vitamin E
• 7 times more beta carotene


(Doug) #10

Last summer at my brother’s house:

Great Horned Owl - hungry for chicken.


(Brian) #11

I wondered about the motives. But I tend towards pastured because I like the taste. Some people don’t think there’s a difference but there’s something subtle there that my taster likes better in that direction.

:slight_smile:


(Brian) #12

Cool pics! I’ve wondered about getting a trail camera… or two… Probably all kinds of critters out there I have no idea of. Coyotes, and owls, I’ve heard both of those, seldom see either. A neighbor told us a small black bear meandered through last year. Saw en eagle a few weeks ago. Stuff is out there. :slight_smile:


#13

Yes, I agree. And that idiotic notion is starting to bug me.


#14

Me, too. I think they taste better.


(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #15

I’m not saying that either of these are bad, but is more necessarily better?

Seems all that is worth my extra $.17 per egg (or two dollars a dozen), even if I have to make due with a bit less sat fat (which I can make up with butter) or cholesterol (which I can make up with a side of bacon).

It’s not like there’s an RDA for Sat Fat or Cholesterol… and it’s about tradeoffs.

And like Bellyman and Dave in Utah, I think they taste better. And the yolks have a better texture.


(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #16

I get that it can be hard to make ends meet, but this is the sort of thing I think it’s really important to spend money on. Not only are cage-raised eggs deeply unethical (watch some documentaries, they’re not just for vegetarians!), they’ve also gotta be bad for you. Do you really think nature intended those eggs to be laid by a chicken who never sees the sun?

For me, it’s a no-brainer, and I’m also lucky to have a great butcher right around the corner that sources pastured meat from a farm upstate. And I get my fish wild; I buy Arctic Char to keep costs down, it’s a very similar fish in taste, look, and texture to salmon.

Couldn’t recommend wild/organic/pasture-raised more!


(Carl Keller) #17

It’s arguable that the difference is trivial in relation to cost and nutrition. I do however subscribe to the idea that eating things that eat healthy is better than eating things that eat crap. Having said that, I do eat some commercial chicken… but I try not to think about it. :


#18

One of the key goals of Keto as grass-roots has to be how to make quality-food affordable for the poor. After a few months, people’s budgets should adjust from not eating out often in order to afford more quality products like pasture eggs, but getting to that point is difficult and not often talked about. To say nothing about people living in food deserts.


(Annie Bakaleinikoff) #19

88 cents a dozen? May I ask where you live? Not exactly, of course…just the region. Here the cheapest I’ve ever seen them is $1.89 and that’s a a grocery outlet store…usually $2.50 per dozen in a 5 dozen pack.


(Carl Keller) #20

I’m paying 99 cents a dozen and I’m in PA. For free range eggs, it’s about 4x more.